A Perfect Morning Situation
A goat battles his decision paralysis, anxiety, and internal critics in an attempt to make the most of the one hour he has to get ready in the morning.
Interview with Writer/Director/Actor/Animator Alex Gwyn Davies
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you! I made this film out of a need to express how I experience ADHD internally in a way that communicates the feeling itself, without relying on description.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
You should watch this film for its unique visual style, the original orchestral score composed by Declan Molloy, and to experience a fun, intense, and surreal journey through someone’s thought process, all tightly wrapped in 5 manic minutes.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
While this film heavily draws from my own personal experience with my mental health, it evolved into a greater exploration of how to express different unique mental states through animation. After talking with many people who were open and brave enough to share their experiences with me, I have come to believe we are in desperate need of films that express how we each subjectively experience our thoughts, as our experiences are often a lot more common than we realize.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Due to the limited amount of time I had available, and the fact that I was working on this film by myself, I have had to vastly cut the scope of the film down. Through a lot of experimentation, and driven by a focus more on expressing a feeling than a narrative, I got to strip away most of my original script and work almost improvisationally at times. As the production was tightly tied with me coming to terms with my diagnosis and starting my journey with medication, it was important to me not to offer a “solution”, but rather focus on expressing my feelings, so the project remained open-ended up until about a month before the production ended, at which point it had become clear to me what the film was and I was able to tie it together in a way I felt honestly represented the experience.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Other than the slightly concerned looks from some of the audience, the most common feedback I’ve gotten has been “This is literally me”.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I was incredibly taken aback by the amount of people who empathized with the main character and reached out to tell me that this was an accurate representation of their experience. I was afraid when making it that this film would mean nothing to everyone but me, but instead, I feel more connected with others than ever before. This has made me more certain than ever that we need this type of expression out there as there are not many ways to see how others are experiencing their minds, which can make struggling with your mental health incredibly isolating.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
My hope is that this film is just the beginning. I want to connect with others around the world who are interested in exploring similar themes through narrative and to find potential collaborators to work on another film with.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
For this particular film, I believe finding distributors and journalists would be imperative to continuing this conversation, but I am looking for producers who are interested in this style of film to collaborate on the next one.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
The surface-level and anecdotal representation of ADHD in popular culture is the primary reason I didn’t seek a diagnosis or medical help until well into adulthood. It had always been presented as kind of a joke or a slight inconvenience. Now even though I have come to terms with its impact on my life and have been finding tools to help me, I still am constantly faced with the impact of this misrepresentation in most people I come across and their preconceived notions of it. I would like this film to help people feel less alone, help others potentially empathize with the condition, and maybe even encourage someone to start their journey of self-discovery with their own mind.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
I’m curious about what ways we have to communicate with each other, how we each subjectively experience life and our own consciousness. To what extent do we talk about neurodiversity as another tick box to feel inclusive and to what extent do we actually take the time to actually understand each other?
Would you like to add anything else?
I would like to thank you for giving me the chance to talk more in-depth about this project, and I would like to encourage any readers who are interested in my work to reach out through my Instagram @gwyn_alex_davies as I’m still an independent artist always exploring new ideas and mediums, and I’m very curious about talking with others about their thoughts and experiences.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am currently developing a couple of different projects that explore ways to visualize and have conversations about people’s unique relationships with their minds, but they are still in the early stages as I am currently looking for collaborators to develop them with.
Interview: January 2024
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
A Perfect Morning Situation
A goat battles his decision paralysis, anxiety, and internal critics in an attempt to make the most of the one hour he has to get ready in the morning.
Length: 5:14
Director: Alex Gwyn Davies
Producer: Alex Gwyn Davies
Writer: Alex Gwyn Davies
About the writer, director and producer:
ALEX GWYN DAVIES is a Greek-British designer turned filmmaker, focusing on themes of mental health and expressing different states of mind. Alex started his career as a service designer after studying Product Design at the Glasgow School of Art, where he was introduced to storytelling as a design tool for communicating complex concepts. Following a late-in-life ADHD diagnosis, which reframed his lifelong struggle with mental health, he became intimately aware of how crucial representation is. Driven by his belief that animation can be uniquely impactful in expressing how consciousness is experienced, he pursued a Master’s degree in Animation at the Royal College of Art. While there he produced his first short film A Perfect Morning Situation which aims to showcase how ADHD is experienced internally, as opposed to how it is most commonly represented. Alex has now started the film’s festival run and is working on new projects.
Key cast: Alex Gwyn Davies (Mino)
Looking for: distributors, producers
Instagram: @gwyn_alex_davies
Hashtags used: #APerfectMorningSituation
Made in association with: Royal College of Art
Funders: Self-Funded
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Slamdance Film Festival/ Park City, Utah, The Yarrow, Friday, Jan 19th, 8:45 PM “Unstoppable Shorts Block”
Slamdance Film Festival/ Salt City, Utah, The Student Union Theater @ University of Utah, Monday, Jan 22nd, 6:30 PM “Unstoppable Shorts Block”